Gretna, LA Health and Fitness

Though she enjoys conversing with her patients, Dr. Marilyn Pelias's ultimate goal is to get them out her office quickly. The seasoned surgeon tries to minimize the downtime following her procedures, thus enabling clients to resume work and daily activities with little hassle. Even before her treatments begin, she puts guests at ease. During pretreatment consultations, she answers questions and describes her services thoroughly to educate her patients.

Dr. Pelias's surgical treatments range from minor changes such as brow lifts and earlobe repair all the way to tummy tucks and liposuction. With the S-Lift, a faster, simpler alternative to a traditional face-lift, she reduces the appearance of sagging skin on the neck and lower face. Nonsurgical sessions often incorporate lasers, which the doctor uses for skin resurfacing, body contouring or the removal of body hair, spider veins, and tattoos that say I Love My Body Hair and Spider Veins. She also uses skincare products from Obagi to complement chemical peels and microdermabrasion sessions. Dr. Pelias doesn't do it all on her own, though. Aesthetician Shannon Eckler jumps in with the assist on all matters beauty-related, including corrective make-up, microdermabrasion, and hair-removal.

When she's not designing cosmetic-enhancement regimes at Southern Aesthetics or attending at one of five area hospitals, Dr. Penelope Treece works on her oil paintings. The American Board of Surgery-certified surgeon has been an artist since childhood, but reserved painting and modeling berets as private indulgences while forging a career in medicine. She earned her white coat at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed her general surgical residency at Louisiana State University before honing in on breast and other aesthetic surgeries, also becoming certified by the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery. At Charity Hospital, she developed and published a new technique for reconstruction, which now informs her specialty in breast augmentation and reduction.

Her surgical expertise extends to tightening sagging skin all over the body, and a team of certified aestheticians and massage therapists extends her rejuvenating touch with minimally invasive technology. A collection of lasers––including FDA-approved devices from Cutera–– gently zap acne, veins, and body hair to reveal smooth, healthy skin. A complimentary consultation begins every visit to the office.

Acupuncture in NOLA's two nationally certified acupuncturists draw upon three-year degrees in Oriental Medicine and good group vibes in their tranquil public-treatment centers. Both avid students of holistic healing, owner Tonya Tigart supplemented her Master's of Science with advanced acupuncture training at Heilongjiang University in Harbin, China, and partner Kathleen Keane boasts extensive massage-therapy experience in addition to her Master's of Science. Their aim is to help patients heal themselves via several holistic therapies, particularly acupuncture, which the World Health Organization recognizes can be effective in treating more than 50 ailments, including chronic pain, anxiety, and the nagging fear that the refrigerator door is on fire.

Tigart and Keane carefully attend to physical and psychological comfort, letting their acupuncture patients decide when their needles should come out, or if they should be dispatched entirely for thumb-based acupressure. Treatment can be administered in private or in a public space, where patients enjoy the fellowship of friends and other health-seekers as they relax on memory-foam recliners, sip tea, and defrost frozen wristwatches under heat lamps.

Gulf South Physicians Group's medical staff performs primary-care and wellness services to help patrons to reach their health-related goals, whether cosmetic or medical. In addition to performing medical procedures such as hormone-replacement therapy to help to relieve anxiety and depression and treating health conditions, the staff also executes cosmetic procedures such as Botox injections and alphabetizing the blood cells.

When he's not penning articles for peer-reviewed journals or presenting at medical conferences around the country, Dr. Richard Gitter continues perfecting his surgical treatment of blood vessels at Gitter Vein Institute. A graduate in the top 20% of his class at Tulane University School of Medicine, the board-certified cardiovascular surgeon uses minimally invasive laser techniques to treat and cure vascular malformations, vascular legions, varicose veins, and spider veins.

After her practice was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Rupa Jolly became all the more determined to care for the community’s dental needs. She revived NOLA Dental Care and, today, she continues to improve smiles with preventative check-ups and x-rays, as well as dental implants, teeth whitening, and other cosmetic procedures. She also enrolls in continuing education courses in order to master the field’s most cutting-edge techniques and smile-inducing molar jokes.